kerrier council are throwing my family on the streets

puddy

how come surrey social services havent communicated with kerrier social services to say that there was a risk to the children at your old place and that therefore you couldnt go back and that therefore you were not intentionally homeless?

i get the feeling that you havent communicated with the authorities about this as well as you should have

have either social services assessed your situation?

puddy

in addition, in referrence to above, the council would not inform the landlady that you have to be 'out' this morning, they will have informed her that they are not paying past today. its therefore up to the landlady to make a decision as to whether they let you live there rent free, start with eviction proceedings or whatever. this b and b is presumably private b and b, being paid for by the council

Jowo_2

Contact Shelter asap who will be able to tell you how to appeal against the intentional homelessness verdict and your options to prevent homelesness.

Visit your local MP in Cornwall and your former one in Surrey to complain about the handling of the housing issue.

Contact Women's Aid.

neas

Presumably the kids moved school when we relocated from surrey?

Why not move to yorkshire or the like where accomodation is cheaper and more affordable?

As others have said sitting wiating for a good tax-subsidised house as opposed to sleeping in a car isnt the best solution.

twirlypinky

I can't help but think the biggest issue here is nothing to do with Cornwall, it's in Surrey. You should be able to live in your home in Surrey. Why haven't the police dealt with your ex?

maninthestreet

So what is the situation with the property in Surrey, do you rent it, or is the property actually owned by you???

Fire_Fox

vfallows83 wrote: »

thank you for your reply, we have been looking for accomodation but there just doesnt seem to be any thing available. the council offered tp pay the rent and deposit but they aslo said the would pay for the credit checks through an agency but whenever we try to contact them to get this money they never return our calls

You've had over three months: have you rung the council every day, have you been into the offices regularly? If you have why aren't you submitting a complaint about the council not ringing you back after over SIXTY promises (working days in twelve weeks)? Are you looking at two beds as well as three beds? If you have a car why can't you drive the boys to school from a new house slightly out of the area? Have either of you given up jobs in Surrey, are you looking for another now?

Wee_Willy_Harris

princeofpounds wrote: »

If you are in private rental accomodation and there has been no court order then you do not have to move out until there is a court order. Anything else is an illegal eviction, which is a criminal offence.

I'm sorry, I can't help more specifically as your statements are so disjointed.

I believe it's B+B accommodation, which means only "reasonable" notice needs to be given and the issue of illegal eviction will be a bit of a non starter.

Wee_Willy_Harris

lynzpower wrote: »

Are you in appeal with the IH decision? its my understanding housing should still be provided until the appeal is concluded

Do you have a social worker in cornwall? Maybe someone who deals with your sons special support needs?

Looks like they have provided temp. But, after the initial negative decision is made, they no longer have a duty to do so.

Wee_Willy_Harris

From what I gather, you have been made intentionally homeless having lost your accommodation in Surrey as a result of your own acts or omissions. Specifically, from your OP, you did nothing to preserve your tenancy in Surrey (prosecute your ex, injunctions, get a DV marker on property, Police reports etc). There is also no indication that can be varified to the LA in Cornwall that you would be at risk were you to return (Police reports, support from Womens Aid or other DV organsations, Social Services support, GP support etc). This is what has lead them to the negative decision. Once the negative decision is made, the provision of any temp accommodation provided extends for a "reasonable" time to allow you to find alternative accommodation. In most cases, this will be less than 28 days. Even if you appeal this decision, they have no DUTY to provide you with further temp unless the initial decision is overturned as a result of your appeal. There will be a further route of appeal within the LA, usually a committee of councillors. After that, there are still avenues of appeal open to you (High Court etc) but this is a very time consuming process and you need to secure resolution ASAP.

Unless (unlikely) the B+B is specifically run by the Council, they will not have told them to "put you out", but will have told then that their funding has stopped. The B+B can still accommodate you on a self funding basis, ie you claim LHA and make up any shortfall. Obviously, this is dependant on the B+B accepting such an arrangement. Many won't as there is no guarantee of payment.

Right now, your best course of action is to GO TO the Council and sort out the deposit guarantee. If they aren't returning calls, then the telephone is clearly a waste of time, so a personal visit may be more fruitful. They will also be able to offer other advice/options regarding housing which may be helpful. You also need to be spending every available minute looking for suitable accommodation. However, at the end of the day, if there's non available in the area, there's none available and nothing you do will change that, so you may need to be more realistic about where you are looking for accommodation. Maybe widening your search would be more productive.

For Social Housing, even though you are Intentionally Homeless, the LA has to have due regard and offer suitable priority to those who are homeless. Having seen the Cornwall Homechoice guide, you should be allocated to Band C, which will give you priority over those with lesser needs than yourself. Homechoice is still quite new in Cornwall, so I would suggest you familiarise yourself with this system before everybody else does. Historically, new CBL allocation systems favour pro-active applicands early, so don't waste another moment on this front. Looking at their recent lets, a number of 2 and 3 bed houses have been let in the last couple of months to band C applicants who have been on the list for under 6 months (Example: Ref:714. Advertised end of May 2010. 2 bed house. Clifden Close, Mullion. Let to applicand band C since April 2010). Again, you need to be sensible with your areas of choice. Concentrating on high demand/low turnover areas may not be the wisest course of action.

To be blunt, you have been in Cornwall since last September and obviously had no intention of returning to Surrey. That means you've had 10 months to sort something out. I think the time has come for you to pull your finger out and get on with it.